Formula 2 Racer and Haas F1 junior driver Santino Ferrucci has been handed multiple penalties for transgressions both on track and off. He received a 6000 Euro fine for texting and driving while transitioning to the grid before the race. He was disqualified from today’s sprint race for intentional contact with teammate Arjun Maini and refusing to attend a subsequent hearing. And finally he was suspended from the series for the next two race weekends for rear-ending Maini during the cool-down lap.
We’ll get to his malicious on-track moves in a minute, but the one that really caught my eye was his fine for texting and driving. Ferrucci was “observed transitioning from the support paddock to the race pitlane wearing just one glove and holding a phone in his hand by a Technical Delegate.” Statistically we’re all guilty of texting and driving now and again, but this takes it to another level.
The American driver was handed a 6000 Euro fine for the incident, which put others at risk of being hit by an inattentive driver at the wheel of a car with ankle-busting wings on the front of it. The fine was a result of breaking two rules, one for not wearing his glove, and the other for having a wireless device in the race car in the first place.
During the race, stewards determined that Ferrucci was deliberately forced Maini off of the track at Turn 4 while Maini was executing a pass for position. While he would likely have been reprimanded for this incident, he made things worse by refusing to attend the subsequent hearing regarding the contretemps.
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Clearly he was pissed off about the way the whole day had gone, and pulled a move we’ve all seen in NASCAR before as he deliberately drove into the rear of Maini’s car during the race cooldown lap. That kind of thing is seriously frowned upon in open wheel racing, and a breach of the Sporting Regulations. Ferrucci’s Trident Racing team confirmed to the stewards that the move was premeditated and intentional. This hearing, presumably to happen concurrent with the previously mentioned hearing, was also refused by Ferrucci. The FIA has determined that “as a consequence, the American driver has been suspended from the next two FIA Formula 2 Championship rounds – meaning he will not be permitted to participate in both Budapest and Spa-Francorchamps – and has also been given a fine of €60,000.”
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LOL CYA
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